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The Science of 12-Step Programs
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Since the inception of Alcoholics Anonymous — the progenitor of 12-step programs — science has sometimes been at odds with the notion that laypeople can cure themselves because the numerous spiritual references that go with the 12-step program puts A.A. on "the fringe" in the minds of many scientists. But there is an interesting read at National Geographic where Jarret Liotta writes that new research shows that the success of the 12-step approach may ultimately be explained through medical science and psychology. According to Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer at Hazelden and sober 37 years, attending 12-step meetings does more than give an addict warm, fuzzy feelings. The unconscious neurological pull of addiction undermines healthy survival drives, causing individuals to make disastrous choices, he says. "People will regularly risk their lives—risk everything—to continue use of a substance." Addicts don't want to engage in these behaviors, but they can't control themselves. "The only way to truly treat it is with something more powerful," like the 12 steps, that can change patterns in the brain. Philip Flores, author of Addiction as an Attachment Disorder, says the human need for social interaction is a physiological one, linked to the well-being of the nervous system. When someone becomes addicted, Flores says, mechanisms for healthy attachment are "hijacked," resulting in dependence on addictive substances or behaviors. Some believe that addicts, even before their disease kicks in, struggle with knowing how to form emotional bonds that connect them to other people. Co-occurring disorders, such as depression and anxiety, make it even harder to build those essential emotional attachments. "We, as social mammals, cannot regulate our central nervous systems by ourselves," Flores says. "We need other people to do that.""
You didn't just 'actually stop drinking' you got pancreatitis, which then motivated you to stop, your 2 step program is missing a couple.
Alcohol abuse is so socially acceptable most people don't even recognise it as abuse and it can take a massive upheaval of your social life to simply "stop drinking", as well as taking time to spot patterns of behaviour and triggers and then change them.
I do dislike the AA though, they say that if you stop drinking, you're just a dry drunk, so in their eyes even of 10 years sobriety you're still branded as an alcoholic, you still have to announce that you're an alcoholic, and that just reinforces the idea that you're weak, that you may slip up and that you need AA meetings to get by.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
As a former heavy smoker I can tell you, I did want to smoke. Hell yeah. It felt good. It was relaxing, it was soothing, it was great. Don't give me that "I don't want to smoke but I can't stop" bull. You want to smoke. At least admit it. You may not like the coughing and the shitty taste in your mouth in the morning (no, really...), you may not like how people react to you, but you do like the cigarette (or in my case, cigar), the moment you light that fire you WANT it. Don't gimme any of that crap that you light it with remorse, you don't. You lean back, you put it in your mouth, you light it, you inhale, you enjoy it. Face it, that's the truth. Lie to yourself if you prefer, but that's simply how it is.
Was I an addict? I guess yeah. Did I like to stop? Yeah, I did. But mostly because for some odd reason from one day to the next the craving stopped. I lighted the cigar and it was not enjoyable. I did not like it. I simply didn't. I put it down and that was a few months ago now. The cigar is still lying where I put it, ready to be smoked at any time. I just don't want to.
Pretty much at the same time some important changes came to my life and I think it's pretty much how you described it. The drug was a substitute. Once it's no longer needed, it will cease to provide the enjoyment that it once did. That certainly doesn't work for everyone, but nobody should give me the bull that he doesn't like his drug. If he didn't, he'd simply drop it. Addiction is nothing but a craving that you want to fulfill. A quite heavy craving, I may add, but it's still you that decides whether or not you give in or whether you look for other ways to relax and enjoy.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You are defining an alcoholic as someone that can only stop drinking if they use the 12 step program. Someone who is able to stop for any other reason is not a true alcoholic.Therefore, Only the 12 step program can keep a true alcoholic sober. And the views of anyone who was not a true alcoholic and was able to stop drinking without using the 12 step program views are irrelevant. I think data obtained with these criteria will be somewhat biased.
Surprisingly little God in them? Have you actually read them? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program) The OP is essentially correct in his summery.
That's commonly true, although alcohol is a strange drug because of how it figures in so many social situations. There's a segment of what you might call "problem drinkers" who do successfully change from drinking excessively to drinking moderately, mostly caused by a significant change in their social setting. For example they change cities and have a different group of friends with different activities.
This strongly depends on the person and the nature of their excessive alcohol use, though. It's "easier" in a sense to be cured if it has a large socially situated psychological component, such as people who drink too much basically because their social life revolves around spending 5-6 hours each evening at the pub, and drinking is what you do at the pub. In that case, a change in social setting can significantly cut down on the amount they drink. But you could argue that these people were not truly addicted; rather they were drinking more than they wanted to because of social/peer/environmental pressure to do so, and then stopped doing so when the external pressure disappeared.
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